In the 1850s, the heyday of the Keys wreckers--daring seamen who saved lives and property from ships cast up on the Florida reef--ships were piling up on the reef at the rate of nearly one a week. Salvaging these wrecks was a highly competitive and hazardous gamble of the lives, limbs, and vessels of the wreckers against an often elusive gain.
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In the 1850s, the heyday of the Keys wreckers--daring seamen who saved lives and property from ships cast up on the Florida reef--ships were piling up on the reef at the rate of nearly one a week. Salvaging these wrecks was a highly competitive and hazardous gamble of the lives, limbs, and vessels of the wreckers against an often elusive gain.
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